I’ve seen A Boy and His Blob before, as a NES time attack video. I got the basic idea, feeding this blob jellybeans that made it transform, but the full gameplay always stayed vague. I knew I had a chance to give it a go for the list and I’ve been waiting for that chance – after all, I need something to look forward to.

Our Thoughts

A Boy and HisBlob is, almost most importantly, a cute game. The graphics are very cartoony, with backgrounds that could appear in a Ghibli movie. The real sign of this, and the heart of this game, is a button that makes the boy hug the blob. I haven’t run into a situation where it’s required, but it’s an adorable sequence that’s reaffirming, the panic in the boy’s voice pitched just right to make you feel worired. There’s comfot in the animation, which feels appropriate in this world of scary creatures. It’s unnecessary for gameplay, but it sets the tone more than anything else.

But beyond that, this is a pretty rewarding puzzling game. It’s forgiving of mistakes – you never have to go back too far and it didn’t feel like there were many lethal situations. Your toolset is always limited, I don’t think we ever had more than three jelly beans to use. But those few options – each flavour turning the blob into a different form – are enough to get you through. They are to create stairs, trampolines, parachutes or other ways to travel, often giving you a decent headscratcher but not having too many options that it becomes impossible to find out what to do. There are also the essential collectibles – chests that unlock challenge levels, which in turn unlock additional goodies like concept art. It’s the usual that you expect, but the challenges to get there, in a two step path, work well.

Final Thoughts

The setting, art and direction of this game combine to create a friendly enough world to play through, but with enough menace through its enemies and colours that it’s not too nice. It’s kid scary (or, I suppose, what I think that should be at my age) with some threat, but where there’s always the feeling that it’s going to be okay. It’s just that lovely.